Awake

Afternoon At The Zoo: In Which The Sea Lions Are Visited And Swim Around And Around

Dear Adalie, Kylia, Zoie, and Maddie Mae (aka, The Best Nieces Ever!),

On Monday I went to the zoo. I wish I could have taken you with me, but since I couldn't, I decided to take lots of pictures of the animals just for you. Today, I'm going to tell you about my visit with the sea lions.

There were two sea lions at the zoo that day. They were swimming around and around in their large deep pool. Did you know they swim with their eyes closed? When they get near the giant window, they rub their bellies against the glass so they know when to turn. Even though they flop around awkwardly on land, in the water, they are as graceful as ballerinas—giant ballerinas with whiskers, that is!

They have smooth fine fur and large whiskers next to their noses. Notice how big their flippers are!

I hope you enjoyed my pictures of the sea lions. Did you know that you can visit sea lions on the Oregon coast as well? Maybe someday we will do that together.

Lots of love and hugs and kisses,

Auntie

Pumpkin Patch

Destroyed and Redeemed and Now Beautiful

A storm is coming.

It took a bit to come. We had a picnic and the girls found a fort amongst the trees. There was even time for a little pondering.

(Then the hail came and the motorcyclists had to take cover under trees by the side of the road.)

And The Lake changed colors.

In between rain showers, I would look for wildflowers to photograph.

(Late-July is a great time to find wildflowers at Crater Lake.)

Just as quickly as it came, the storm passed by, and it was time for stops and photo-ops.

And mysterious ships.

And waterfalls protected by legions of mosquitoes.

And little girls with birthdays that always happen during summer family vacations.

And naptimes.

It was a fun summer. A whirlwind. A tempest, at times. But fun, all the same.

Happy Friday. Happy Fall.

Ashland Creek on an Early Evening in Spring

I found a couple of places where I could just sit on a rock and get lost in playing with the camera. Here are a some shots of Ashland Creek in Lithia Park.

I like this one because the water looks like angel hair.

I never get tired of this creek and I love living only a few blocks away from it.

Purples and Greens

There are some lovely purples and greens in Lithia Park this time of year. Here are two examples from my walk in the park this evening.

Gotta love those Spring colors.

An Evening at the Upper Duck Pond

There are few places more relaxing than the Upper Duck Pond in Lithia Park. Watching ducks go down and chow down, wiggling orange feet—well, it's enough to make you forget your troubles, even if only temporarily.

Everybody Duck!

Happy Friday, everyone. :)

Just another walk in the park

I decided to enter Lithia Park by way of Shakespeare and, to my delight, noticed construction is underway on The Green Show stage. The Green Show is free and runs before the evening plays every night but Monday. I am really looking forward to them this season.

The usual things caught my eye on my walk this afternoon. Flowers, trees, and the creek, of course. I hope you enjoy these pictures that I made just for you. :)

Happy Thursday.

I'm supposed to be doing laundry...

But instead I took pictures and talked on the phone and took more pictures while talking on the phone. Very naughty. Should not have done. But it was...

so

beautiful

outside my front door.

I just couldn't resist.

Maybe if I wear perfume, no one will notice I haven't got any clean clothes to wear?

Happy Whatever-Day-It-Is. (Yes, one of *those* weeks.)

April Showered Sunset

And this is how we do sunsets in Ashland after an April showery day...

Cloud Invasion

This evening I meant to take a nice sunset stroll in the general direction of downtown. Instead, upon glancing in the opposite direction, I noticed an invasion of Altocumulus lenticularis, also known as UFO clouds, raiding the Southern sky. Turning around, I followed the railroad tracks but became frustrated by the lower ground of the Railroad District and the lack of a clear view of the large lenticularis sweeping up the flank of the Siskiyous. As I walked along the pathway, I looked East and observed another evening sky invader: The Wicked Witch of the West. It was only her head and in cloud form, but evenso, I recognized her immediately.

The brisk cold wind blew hard on my insufficiently covered body, but I pressed southward in search of a clear shot of the invading lenticularis. Finally, I found one.

At this point, I could have turned around, but I thought I might as well get some exercise while I was out and continued down East Main to a rural area. I said hello to this horse, who actually did not seem that happy to see me. But that didn't stop me from taking his picture. Sorry, horsey.

I finally reached GracePoint church and headed onto their property and toward the vacant lot behind the little playground there. It was there I waited for the sun to set, which it did, and when my camera's memory card told me (once again) that it was full, I packed it up and realized that my fingers were freezing cold. A mile and a half from home, I walked back with the bitter cold wind in my face wondering why on earth I didn't have the sense to wear a jacket, hat, and gloves. Oh well.

Happy Saturday.

Waiting for water to boil

Spinach tortellini for (late) lunch today. While I was waiting for the water to boil, I popped out back and shot a few pics of the lovely Spring flowers that are blossoming in abundance around my yard...

...and then there's this one from earlier today:

Hope the Spring is treating you equally as well. Happy Thursday.

Cloud Watching on an April Evening

It was another gorgeously beautiful day in Ashland today. Blue sky all day with a smattering of happy puffy Cumulus popping up here and there. But, at the end of the day, a thunderhead boiled up south of us in the Siskiyous.

I left the Y just before seven and headed straight home to grab the camera. Camera as my co-pilot, I headed over to Emigrant Lake in hopes of a view of our One Big Cloud of the day.

I parked at the lot before the boathouse and scampered up the dam. Ooo! Pretty cloud.

While I was snapping photos of the big cloud, the sun was setting. And lest you think I was exaggerating about there only being one cloud, I turned around and took this picture of The Other Cloud in the sky this evening. (See, I was mostly telling the truth!)

And, now, back to the action! The cumulonimbus continues to grow and happy people get one last waterskiing run before dark. Waterskiing in April. Mwahaha. You wish you were here, don't you.

I was beginning to get hungry for dinner. (Sometimes I forget about dinner and just want to go take pictures of pretty things.) So I headed out. I got to the entrance of Emigrant Lake, looked South and...

The Anvil. Duh duh duuuuhhhhhhhhhh.

I had to get a closer look. I turned south on Hwy 66 and found a turnout.

The Anvil Cometh!

Mmmmmmmmmm. Annnnnnvilllllllll. My favorite. (Sorry, I kept missing the lightning. But it was there!)

Ooo. Watch how it Billows. Billow, Anvil. Billow.

Sadly, it was time to go. I took one last look at the Cumulonimbus and it's Happy Tail.

I'm glad the birdies liked the sunset too.

And that's the story of The One Cloud We Had Today (and The Other One, Too).

Happy Tuesday.

Lithia Park's Playground Overseer

Visited our little Western Screech Owl in Lithia Park again yesterday evening. The original shot was fairly dark since I arrived just after the sunset. But nothing that a little Photoshop couldn't handle.

It's always fun and relaxing to visit The Owl.

Pictures from Morel Hunting (but not Finding) Posted

Went morel hunting today with a friend. We went east on Hwy 66 up and over the summit of Green Springs to this place we called "Red Mountain" due to all the red soil everywhere. Didn't find any mushrooms of any kind until we stopped at Tub Springs on the way back and found a couple of Snowbank False Morels. Even so, it was a gorgeous day, temps in the low 80s, just perfect.

The rest of the photos are in my set on Flickr: Morel Hunting

Hope you are enjoying your Monday.

Spring Wildflowers in Lithia Park

Found a number of wildflowers in bloom in Lithia Park today. If you know the names of them, I'd love to know! The only one I recognized by name was Oregon Grape, but I hadn't seen it in bloom before. Update: The first one Fritillaria. Thanks Carol!

Fritillaria

Oregon Grape

Hope you enjoyed your Sunday. It was beautiful today in Ashland.

Spring Walk on Helman St.

Took a very long exploratory walk around Ashland today, kind of following Ashland Creek and ended up going down Helman Street all the way to the dog park. On Helman, I found about 20 or more deer hanging out, some lovely flowering trees, and even some lambs. Put the pictures in this set, Spring Walk on Helman St..

Here are a few favorites:

Find the rest here.

Hope you enjoy. Happy Weekend.

Sunset on Dead Indian Memorial Road

A little after six this evening it was looking like there might be a pretty sunset, so I grabbed the camera and hopped in the car to scope out a good place to take some pictures. I went south and turned on Dead Indian Memorial Road, a road I had not yet explored (and wasn't exactly sure where it would take me). Well, it took me *into* the hills. Not exactly awesome to be surrounded by (albeit very pretty) hills when what I was looking for was a clear vantage point of the valley north with sky and clouds, etc. But, just when I was about to turn around, the road gained a bit of altitude and lo and behold, a turnout, some nice branchy trees, and a sun, setting behind the hills.

And a car wreck.

Later, I stopped off at the Railroad District Park, but none of the pictures turned out the way I wanted, so, it turned out to be more of a learning experience instead of a sharing experience.

The small set of photos that made the cut can be found in my flickr set: Sunset on Dead Indian Memorial Road. Enjoy.

Happy End-Of-Friday.

Not (Yet) Spring, Pt. 2

Added a few more pictures to my Not Yet Spring flickr set...Spring is almost here! Yay.

Not (Yet) Spring

I was out running an errand on the south end of town when I spotted some brilliant Altocumulus lenticularis hovering over one of the Siskiyou hills. But by the time I went back home to fetch my camera they had dissipated into the blah stratus mass that had settled into the valley. (At least it didn't rain.) Driving southward, searching the skyline for any remaining lenticularis to photograph, I decided to explore around Emigrant Lake a little bit, which is just off of Hwy 66, only a couple of miles outside of town. I pulled over at one of the waysides and decided that since I'd come all the way out here to take some pictures, I might as well find something interesting to photograph. In the Not-Spring on an overcast day, the colors were less than radiant and I struggled to find inspiration. But finally, I spotted some trees with nothing remaining in their fractal brambles of branches but bunches of mistletoe. This picture below is my favorite. I love how the edges glow. This pic is straight out of the camera. (No photoshopped glowing edges here! ;-)

You can find the rest of the pictures I took at the wayside here, in my flickr set, Not Yet Spring. I plan to go out and take more pictures of in this intermediate season I call "Not Yet Spring" tomorrow. Hopefully, in the Not-Rain. ;-)

The View From Here Is Quite Nice

Took advantage of a gorgeous day and drove up to Crater Lake to take some pictures. Still learning to use the new camera but that didn't stop me from taking lots of pictures, many of which are posted on Flickr and stashed in my set, Crater Lake March 2009.

On my way back, I ventured a bit down Hwy 230 and snapped some photos of some favorite haunts (well, those I could get to, anyway).

I hope you enjoy this set!

Oregon Junco (in my backyard)

Link

Daphne

Link

A Photographic Field Trip

As soon as 4:30pm came around (i.e. The Magic Hour), I put on a warm jacket, scarf, stuffed some mittens in my pocket, grabbed my camera bag and walked to Lithia Park in hopes of finding a pretty thing or two to photograph with my new digital SLR camera. Upon entering the park, I noticed one of the theatres reflecting in the First Pond. Walking up from there, I squealed with anticipation at the thought of capturing the famous owl perched high in a knot of a tree overlooking the playground. Sure enough, the owl was there and I switched to my 70-300mm lens and zoomed in on the sleeping prowler. A couple walked by wanting to see how the pictures turned out (knowing exactly what I was doing there) and I figured out how to zoom in on the picture to make sure the owl was in focus, and sure enough he was! (No tripod, even!) I was thrilled. It's always fun to share a "local's moment." :)

I did my usual "short walk", past the Parks building to the Lily Pad bridge (well, there weren't any lily pads there at the moment!) and back, experimenting with different light settings and shutter speeds. I love that I can take those pictures of water where the water is blurry but everything else is in focus. I always wondered how that was done. :)

So, the pictures are posted in my Lithia Park set on flickr, starting here. I hope you enjoy them!

Happy Friday!

Snow?!

Late last night I kept waking up to these odd swishing and sliding sounds. It sounded like a large group of skateboarders where repeatedly going down Lithia Way, over and over and over again. Perhaps what I really heard was a school of snowboarders swishing in the snow-laden street. Regardless, I woke up a little bleary-eyed from my disturbed slumber to an odd glowing emanating from behind the mini-blinds. It looked to me like a snow glare. Couldn't be. Snow? No way. I separated a section of the blinds with my fingers and what did I see? Well you already know, snow! And lots of it, too. Several inches at least. I was taken aback.

Even if I did listen to the news, the weather forecast only called for "maybe an inch" so I don't think I'm the only one surprised by snow this morning. The forecast calls for rain and snow all week. Just as long as it clears up by Friday so I can drive North weekend after this, I'll be happy.

I really should have done laundry last night. Lugging laundry 2 blocks up hill through the snow doesn't sound that difficult, just a wee bit inconvenient. Sigh.

Happy Friday the 13th.

Fawnolita One and Two Hit The Road

Slushing in Ashland

Well kids, it's snowing in Ashland this afternoon. It started out as a slushy mix of rain and snow but now it appears to be just snow. The ground is too warm for it to stick, so the roads should be clear. Hopefully the Siskiyou pass will be passable tomorrow when The Fun Squad makes their way North.

Slushing in Ashland, OR from http://greenamber.vox.com/

The Snow That Didn't Melt

Woke up this morning to the same snow that fell yesterday afternoon. After all it's 20 degrees and not likely to melt anytime soon. Today may mark the first time I've ever had to put chains on my little Saturn SL. I've been carrying chains in my trunk since 1998 but haven't ever put them on. (Although there was a time or two when I should have. Spontaneous trip to Sisters, anyone?)

Happy snow day.

The Snow Fell

We got a bit more snow this afternoon...I think probably 3 or 4 inches maybe.

I guess Ashland got a ton of snow today. Tomorrow should be interesting. Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon it will have melted. I have to drive into Ashland late Monday...

Snow in the backyard

An invasion of tiny parachute flakes began early this afternoon. The snow has just begun to stick on the ground and the branches of the trees. This picture was taken of the backyard around quarter after three on Sunday afternoon.

Any snow in your backyard?

It looks like a forest (and it is); but its really just my backyard.

Got a bit of snow this morning. Just a dusting on the valley floor (where I live) but showcased on the trees of the surrounding hills was a fresh blanket. Nothing like Sunriver over Christmas, but nice on my day off. It melted mid-afternoon. I hope tomorrow will be uneventful in the weather arena; I have 10 am appointment in Ashland and I definitely want to retain my long-standing record of never putting chains on my car. Any snow for you?

Salvaging Daylight in the Great Outdoors

While Candace is waxing poetic about her divine design for a 3rd floor master bathroom on the TiVo and Roomba is busy collecting dust bunnies from underneath my bed and the banana bread is baking in the oven, I thought I'd post a bit about my outdoorsy weekend.

The Medford Mail Tribune has a new section of the paper totally devoted to the great outdoors that comes out every Thursday. It's fabulous and this week's "hike of the week" was Boundary Springs, the dramatic source of the Upper Rogue River. I recruited my cousins Drew and Kelly for a hike for Sunday.

About Boundary Springs. Don't picture bubbling spring gently emerging from the ground; picture water bursting forth from the rocks. It was originally thought to be the Great Leak of Crater Lake, but it's not. The Rogue's it's own thing.

Unfortunately, I will have to settle for guidebook descriptions because we started too late in the afternoon due to some business my cousin Drew had to take care of and as we began to hike, we realized it would soon grow dark and that we wouldn't be able to make it out before it did. Drew and Kelly turned around before I did (I'm a bit stubborn) but I turned back about 15 minutes later and arrived back at the truck just as the sun disappeared into the horizon. Here's a picture of the sun sinking behind the trees in the forest about a 1/4 mile before I got back to the trailhead.

The trailhead to Boundary Springs is a Mt. Mazama (Crater Lake Rim) viewpoint and I did manage to get a picture of it just as the remaining rays of sun skimmed the tops of the trees. It was beautiful clear day but we should have allowed 3-4 hours to make it to the springs (in daylight). As this was the last weekend before it's likely to snow, I'll just have to look forward to a summer hike next June.

The weekend continued into the rest of the world's work week and today Drew, Kelly and I took the cruisers (and a mountain bike) out for a ride along Bear Creek from Talent toward Ashland for about an hour. It was another beautiful sunny afternoon and riding felt great. The weather has been really delightful down here.

Next weekend, I'll break out my newly acquired 100 Hikes in Southern Oregon and try out a 3 or so mile loop around Jacksonville (just 2 miles from where I live now with my grandpa), weather permitting. (Rain is forecast. Shocking, I know.)

Well the banana bread is out of the oven, Roomba has returned to Base, and another recorded episode of Devine Design has been watched and unceremoniously deleted. I guess it's time to sign-off.

Happy Monday from beautiful Southern Oregon.

A Perfect Fall Day on the Upper Rogue

Grandpa and I enjoyed a perfect Fall day along the Upper Rogue River today. We had lunch at Beckie's Café at Union Creek then viewed the Gorge, The Natural Bridge and Woodruf Bridge. My camera's battery made it through the Natural Bridge viewing but died before I could capture the especially brilliant Fall colors at Woodruf Bridge.

I brought along the monopod and snapped quite a few pictures. They are now living on my Flickr site in the set Fall on the Upper Rogue.

Update: I posted my mini-videos on my Vox over here.

Tulips galore

Posted a handful of pictures mom took at the tulip farm in Woodburn. Mom, Dad and Bob and Gail Bredemeier spent last Sunday afternoon there. Apparently Bob was overwhelmed with wonder at the fully functional steam-powered tractor, enough to cause him to be quite content to let the wives puruse thousands of tulips and shop contentedly for bulbs all afternoon.

View the Field Trips album at the Gallery

Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as a violation of Gwich�in human rights

From a press release from Cultural Survival:

The Gwich'in Steering Committee announced on October 25 the release of a new report outlining the implications of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as a violation of Gwich'in human rights under international law.

A Moral Choice for the United States—The Human Rights Implications for the Gwich'in of Drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge was prepared by the public interest law firm Trustees for Alaska, on behalf of and under the auspices of the Episcopal Church, the Gwich'in Nation, and Professor Richard J. Wilson, Director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at American University.

Links:

• Gwich'in Steering Committee
• A Moral Choice for the United States—The Human Rights Implications for the Gwich'in of Drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge [PDF]

A Little Lake Wenatchee

Actually, Lake Wenatchee in Washington State (kinda by Leavenworth) is not little at all. But my photos from our visit there number only 3, thus "a little." There was no sign of the recent forest fire there, except a bunch of pup tents for firefighters at a camp nearby and on the day we visited, it was sunny and windy. Very windy, in fact. In the background of one of the pictures I took of Seth and his daughter, Adalie, you can see some of the kite surfers, there were 4 in all, sweeping the lake. It was fun to watch.

Crater Lake

In August, Mom, Dad and I headed down to our favorite campin' spot (which will remain anonymous...crowd control, you understand ;-). Nearby, is Crater Lake. Grandpa joined us on Sunday and after Mom and Dad headed back (I decided to stay a couple extra days), Grandpa and I headed to Crater Lake. More pictures are here.

The Rain in Bombay

The rain in Bombay falls on the righteous and the wrong
And there is no way for me to understand

—Caedmon's Call, "Bombay Rain"

Floods and landslides in Bombay last week have brought the city, whose airport has been my first taste of India for the last two years, to a standstill. According to this Reuters article, blame is being placed on civic authorities, who have monumentally failed in the task of urban planning for this city of seven islands, stiched together by "reclaimed land."

"Reclaimed land", according to our Singaporean tour guide, who, on our tour of the city during our layover in February, pointed out reclaimed land in Singapore, is soil brought from somewhere else and dumped into the ocean, then allowed to settle for a number years until it is determined to be stable for urban building. In Singapore's case, the soil is brought from Indonesia.

But in the case of Bombay, which is not blessed with the ingenious urban planning apparent in Singapore, hundreds died in a city of myriad urban problems, including slums and housing projects with no drainage, water-logging along the coastlines of reclaimed land, and destroyed trees and wetlands that could have dissipated waves and naturally drained the torrential rainfall.

But on a personal note, I have some friends flying out of Bombay at the end of this week. The flooding caused the airport to close nearly all of last week, so please pray that the airport's schedule will normalize this week for all the people trying to fly out.

Shift in tectonic plates may have shortened Earth days

According to a theory proposed by Richard Gross, a geophysicist with NASA's Jet Propolsion Laboratory, the effect of a huge tectonic plate being forced under another is that of making the Earth more compact and consequently spinning faster. The 9.0 Asian earthquake may also have increased the tilt in the Earth's axis. All of this means that an Earth day is now a tiny fraction of a second shorter than it was before. When these tiny fractions accumulate, scienctists will have to add a "leap second" to the end of the year.

This is a very small effect and things like this have happened to the Earth many times before. But it is intriguing to find oneself in the midst of a geological event such as this.

Full story here:
Reuters AlertNet - Quake may have made Earth wobble--US scientists

(Also, found some frequently asked questions about the Asian quake and tsunami on USGS's Earthquake Hazards Program site.)

Update and Focused Prayer Requests on Asia quake/tsunami crisis {24-7 Prayer}

24-7prayer.com: 24-7's Kim Hughes in Asia quake

Virtual prayer room created for Asian tsunami crisis

How should we pray for those deeply affected by the Asian tsunami crisis? Head over to Messy Christian's post, Virtual prayer room: Asian tsunami crisis and post your prayers, pictures, or what you think we should pray about. (A wonderful idea for lifting up prayers with one voice and in agreement with on another.)

Local aid to Tsumami/Earthquake victims

The news of the earthquake and resulting tsunami has been difficult if not impossible to comprehend.

Two Northwest relief agencies have been mobilized to send aid and support the efforts of their partners in the hard hit regions of SE Asia:

Mercy Corps - Massive Earthquake Devastates Southeast Asia

NW Medical Teams accepting support to send teams, medical supplies and support the efforts of local partners

Also, many updates at AlertNet (a news service "alerting humanitarians to emergencies." This is where most of the news stations will be getting their info.)

And Leah posted an update to her blog.

And Messy Christian is blogging on the disaster from Malaysia. (Hat tip: Andrew Jones.)

Lunar Eclipse on a Full Moon

Alan M. MacRobert (Sky and Telescope) writes, "The only slightly problematic area will be near the West Coast of North America, where the partial phase of the eclipse will begin just a few minutes after sunset and moonrise. But if you have an open view low to the east, even this situation will only add to the drama. As twilight fades, westerners will see the shadow-bitten Moon coming into stark view low above the landscape, and by the time totality begins, the sky will be getting quite dark and the Moon will be fairly high." (October's Ideal Lunar Eclipse, Sky and Telescope

Actually, the view from the west coast (Beaverton, Oregon) was stunning. I was at a children's program at church when the director came in and told us we could see the eclipse which was viewable right outside the door of the room we were in. Later, at about 9 pm (PST), we saw the white of the moon rather quickly appear and makes it way back over the surface. It was very exciting to watch. I only wish I had had my camera with me! This picture from Sky and Telescope will have to do. The colors in this picture are a little more vidid and saturated than what I observed. It was amazing, but would have been even more so with a telescope, I imagine.

Sky and Telescope - October's Ideal Lunar Eclipse

Hot and Steamy: Mount St. Helens Puts on a Little Show

For those who are interested, I've been filing my Mount St. Helens related posts in the Creation category.

Static shot, 10/27/2004, 3:28 pm (click on image to go to VolcanoCam):

USGS takes it down a notch

"Following yesterday morning’s steam-and-ash eruption, seismicity dropped to a low level and has remained low." Alert Level was changed from Alert Level 3 to Alert Level 2. [Current seismic data webicorder - St. Helens - south-ridge]

Click image to enlarge:

Current Update: Mount St. Helens Alert Level Change

Also, found this is an interesting page under "Archive of Interesting Webicorder records": Mount St. Helens Volcanic Advisory (Alert Level 3) Webicorders and Spectographs

Today's a bit overcast, so VolcanoCam images have been mostly obstructed by clouds and fog. But here's a pic of the newly forming lava dome:

Ash: A Jagged Little Potential Electricty Conductor

Ash particle, 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, magnified 200 times Last night I found some fascinating and informative details about volcanic ash on this USGS site:

Volcanic Ash, What it can do and how to minimize damage

For instance, did you know that volcanic ash...

• does not dissolve in water
• is not soft like sand, but very abrasive and corrosive
• conducts electricity when wet
• is formed by the force of escaping gas when it violently shatters solid rock

Exciting, huh? Being a geology hobbyist and living in the Ring of Fire definitely has its perks.

VolcanoCam Animated Loop of Images

This guy Brian McNoldy put together this neat little app that loops through today's VolcanoCam images. Very nice!

Johnston Ridge Observatory Webcam Loop

St. Helens Venting Steam and Ash

St. Helens Venting Again (KOIN 6 News)

9:25 am
9:59 am
10:19 am
2:29 pm
2:54 pm

VolcanoCam Gallery for this morning's steam eruption

10:14 am
10:29am
10:59am

Mt. St. Helens is erupting!

Mom was sure right about this one. (And the scientists too, I suppose. ;-)
Here is a static captured image of the eruption. For the live webcam, go to my Mt. St. Helens Online Resources entry.

Mount St. Helens Most Definitely Rumbly in its Tumbly

A unique tremor type was detected this afternoon which the USGS guy on TV says is basically is the sound of liquid churning beneath the surface. (Eeww. Creepy magma sounds. Cool!) The liquid is of course magma and the Volcano Alert Level was raised to 3 (the highest level.)

I got the scoop from Joe across the hall in the kindergarten class. I teach the 4s and as I was waiting for my class to arrive, Joe told me what was happening. I guess I opted out of that Google News Alert too soon. But as long as one has access to an active grapevine, who needs e-mail alerts? Thanks, Joe!

Guess ma is gonna be right about this one. It looks like its just a matter of time before the mountain does whatever it is that it's gonna do.

I'm thinking an ash eruption with plenty of steam and a side of lava creeping down the mountain. Maybe a few rogue projectile boulders for good measure. But, hopefully debris flows and flooding will be left out of the story this time around.

And we wait.

Mount St. Helens Online Resources

• Current Updates, Press Releases and other information/links (The Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network)
• Mount St. Helens Seismicity Information
• Seismicity Webicorder Maps and Station Lists: Mt. St. Helens
• Mount St. Helens Special Conditions (Gifford Pinchot National Forest)
• A plethora of Mount St. Helens information and links (USGS)
• St. Helens Real time seismic activity Scroll down to find the station name, then click on today's date to see the data
• VolcanoCam
• Mt. St. Helens Satellite Imagery (NOAA Satellite Services Division)

Update: Live VolcanoCam (courtesy Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument):

Update: Location of Earthquake Monitors (HSR, JUN, CDF) on St. Helens:

Ma says it'll blow again

Correction: This is the current seismic activity for Mount St. Helens...Cool!

NOTE: PNSN crater station SEP (the one below) was broken or destroyed in the blast. Mt. St. Helens - Base Station:

Mt. St. Helens - South Ridge:

Mt. St. Helens - June Lake:

Soon after hearing from the office grapevine that Mount St. Helens erupted, I received than e-mail from my mom:

Mt. St. Helens Just blew off a plume of smoke. It looks pretty neat from our building!

It did not, however, look neat from our building. In fact our view is obstructed by the World Trade Center. So I went outside to head for the waterfront to see if I could see anything. As I was walking down the street, I ran into Michael, (who was running) and, more importantly, had the digital camera in tow. Ah ha! So I told him as we ran across the street, that my ma says there's a good view from her building, about 5 minutes down the waterfront just past Riverplace. This was hopeful information because nothing was visible from where we were; we were too low. So we made it to mom's building and she took us up to a corner office with a patio on the top floor. Sure enough, you could see where the mountain was supposed to be (and you could see it faintly) but it was just a lot of dirty air. We missed the plume.

So then Mom gave us some anecdotal history of the last time St. Helens erupted and finally said as we parted, "It'll blow again."

So we wait.

Update: Mount St. Helens is a bit "rumbly in its tumbly"

According to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest "Special Conditions" report:

A "Volcano Advisory" — Level II — was issued at 10:40 a.m. Wednesday morning, Sept. 29, 2004. A "Volcano Advisory" means that USGS has determined that "processes are underway that could culminate in hazardous volcanic activity, but the evidence does not indicate that a life or property threatening event is imminent." USGS issued this "Advisory" based on accelerated seismic activity at Mount St. Helens — 3 to 4 earthquakes per minute as of Wednesday morning and preliminary measurements showing a slight 1-2 centimeter movement in the dome, caused by earthquakes over the past five days.

No imminent threat is seen for life or property at the present time.

However, the local news is having field day spreading FUD to as many people as humanly possible. Last night I was with a group of 3rd grade girls who were nearly frantic saying, "The volcano is going to explode any minute!" While Mt. St. Helens might experience some eruptions in the near geologic future, I highly doubt it could "top" its last experience — unless it pulls a "Mt. Mazama" on us. 9/30/04

Heard on the news this morning (9/28) that the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam is online. The volcano has been rattling a bit over the past few days, so I guess getting the VolcanoCam back online was reprioritized.

Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam - Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

All the universe(s) on a string

I have a sort of hibernating hobbyist interest in the philosophy of science and religion and so when I caught only a bit of this documentary on so-called "String Theory" last night, I found myself captivated by animated visions of colliding parallel universes, "beautiful and elegant mathematical constructions," and the highly competitive quest to discover test-worthy evidence of this postulated reality. And I needn't despair that I missed most of it: PBS has the whole 3-hour string theory documentary extravaganza online, if you can believe it, and lots of articles and interactive content on the site for my learning-by-mass-absorption pleasure.